Watching the baseball playoffs, garage and basement guitar aficionados may notice the similarity between baseball pitch tracking and guitar chord and scale illustrations. A kind of visual metaphor conflates the two methods of viewing a sequence stilled for analysis.

The following tables illustrate a five pitch sequence that parallels a B minor 7th flat 5 chord. The first two pitches were high, and were called balls. The second two, rising fast balls, were swung on and missed. The third pitch looked good. The fourth pitch drifted inside as well as high. The count is two balls and two strikes:

1

2

3

4

The fifth pitch is high and outside, and the batter lunges for the ball and misses for strike three on the open 6th string:

5

1

2

3

4

The sequence of pitches played on the guitar might sound something like this, strike three sounding a muted bass note:

Lol! It’s the classic Fall. I mean the Fall Classic. Too bad about the Dodgers and Angels,though. But it’s nice to see George smiling in the Royals’ box and another series on the Bay. Here is Ferlinghetti’s “Baseball Canto.”

Yes, thx, just made it ,759. But equally amazing are the slow ball pitchers, the knuckle ball pitchers, the curve ball pitcher, the pitcher who follows a 90 mph fastball with a 73 mph curve. That is what keeps batters off balance. See
“Dream of a Baseball Star.”